An edible garden in Wellington, NZ

Picking: daffodils. Not just jonquils or erlicheer, but big, cheery yellow trumpets. I’m not complaining that they are flowering – since the sight of a daffodil must be one of the happiest sights in the world, but it is still mid-winter. More messed up weather and confused plants…

Eating: not much of anything from my garden, but I’m still getting some carrots, potatoes, silverbeet, broccoli, parsley, parsley, parsley, Jerusalem artichoke, white alpine strawberries (I told you my plants were confused) and various feral greens. I’ve had my first kohlrabi and leeks, although they aren’t too big. And did I mention that I have plenty of parsley?

Buying: I started buying vegetables a few weeks ago. Not much, a few parsnips, a celeriac, some pak choi, a proper-sized leek and a few more carrots.

Tidying: I got so sick of the piles of dirt and weeds that I bought 3 plastic compost bins and filled them. The garden is much neater now. The bins are ugly, but in the summer I reckon I can plant pumpkins and cucumbers in them and hopefully that will make them look a bit more interesting.

Battling: I’ve got 3/4 of my garden looking quite tidy, and the rest is a mess of weeds. But that’s better than it was a few weeks ago. I’ve also now got a tidy cupboard for all my tools, which makes a real difference.

Wondering: whether I can fit in another dwarf peach or nectarine…. how to get a load of mulched up pine tree from an organic farm in the Wairarapa onto my paths… when my kitchen will actually be usable… if my choko will survive the winter, and if so, whether I will get any fruit from it… how to fit a more permanent greenhouse (one that doesn’t involve a plastic cover that keeps ripping) onto my deck… how to create a better edge for my terraces… whether I’m going to get some asparagus to eat this year…

And a random picture. Remember that ash cloud from the Chilean volcano a couple of months back. As well as disrupting travel, it had a good side. I took this picture from my bedroom window.